With the advent of colder weather we’ve moved to working on inside projects. These are not as broad in scope as our summer activities but are things requiring attention.
One of these projects is the repair of the laundry room wall where the new washer and job sink lines were run. (These are not yet functional, we are still waiting for the plumber to return with the correct drain connections.) The job is a bit frustrating as I am trying to fit a sheetrock panel into a lathe-and-plaster wall that was not straight to begin with. Once I am done Pam plans to install wallpaper on that wall to cover the patch and other imperfections.
I have found I can put on only one layer of “mud” each day as each layer takes a full 24 hours to dry. Another layer or two, followed by a final sanding, and Pam will be ready to wallpaper.
Pam’s sister Becky may be staying with us into the winter months, as she is selling her place and looking for an apartment. We have offered our place as an interim place to stay while all this comes to pass. Preparations include going through the storage room closet with the aim of relocating “stuff” to make that room a functional bedroom. A few items were tossed (“why did we move that”) and other things (cat and dog supplies) were moved to the basement. Pam has ordered several wire rack shelving units, on wheels, to get other boxes off the floor and make room for small pieces of furniture such as a floor lamp, small desk, and twin bed. That work will continue for a few days yet.
No other work has been done on the plumbing project, and it may be delayed even further in light of some bad news we received a few days ago. Scott O’Brien is the owner of O’Brien Plumbing and Heating, the local company who has done much work for us. They installed our central air, new water heater, garbage disposal, repaired some other water lines, and are scheduled to install the shower in the upstairs bath. Scott’s wife was killed in an auto accident this past week, leaving him alone to raise his 3 children. The news is a blow to the community as both Scott and his family are well known and respected. Scott is active in the local fire department and did snow plowing in the winter months when other plumbing projects slowed down. While we don’t have all the details, we know Mrs. O’Brien was killed in a head-on accident that occurred on a gravel road near Elma. Our hearts go out to the entire family.
Other activities during the week were low key. Another lawn clean up, maintenance on the truck, cutting back the remaining flower beds, putting temporary patches in the upstairs bathroom floor, Installing window inserts in our smaller windows, and a general catching of our breaths were all on the agenda. It is good to have a patch of down time.
Pam continues to work on our holiday cards. Given the slowness of the mail these days she will need to get them mailed in early December — a bit earlier-than-normal deadline.
One point of interest: We have been receiving many positive comments on the progress of our house painting. From the teller at the bank, people at the lumber yard, and a couple of our neighbors, many people who came into town for Trick-or-Treating saw our house and made positive comments about the updated look. Good to know and helps renew our resolve to continue on.
I have a couple old kerosene lamps that I have decided to re-wick and get into working condition. I decided to go with a lamp oil for fuel (to reduce or eliminate the oder normally associated with kerosene). Shopping on-line, I was taken aback with the shipping charges. Fuel cannot be shipped by air so ground shipping is the only option. Charges for the same 64 oz Aladdin Lamp Oil range from almost $10.00 (the fuel itself is about $15.00) to $21.00. Adding a second container added only a couple dollars to shipping so I ended up ordering two containers from the company with the lowest shipping. That should take care of my “fuel needs” for a long time.
We are in the process of setting up a streaming TV service. The cable Pam subscribed to when we first moved to Iowa has gone up in price and down in channel offerings so we are looking at alternatives. I am experimenting with Fubo TV running on a Roku Ultra device. It takes some getting used to. The biggest drawback is no “Back” or “Previous” button on the remote. Both Pam and I use this feature frequently. You can go back, but it takes several clicks on the remote to do so. Still, for half the cost of regular cable, (now up to almost $120.00 per month) we may learn to live with this inconvenience. I have been learning on my TV and will set up Pam’s TV a bit later. We are currently in the free trial period and will have to make a decision shortly.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I have scanned many of my 35mm slides and posted the photos here. This week I decided to expand my scanning to cover 35mm color negatives. (A few are included below.) As my collection of negatives is quite a bit larger than slides, I will need to develop the skill to “read” a negative and scan the most interesting ones. That may take some time but I plan to make the effort as winter weather arrives.
Projects for the upcoming week include putting new brake pads in the truck, getting the snow blower up and running after summer storage, finishing the laundry room wall patch, and numerous smaller tasks. While the scope of projects has narrowed there are still plenty of projects to keep us busy.
Photo Archive
The first two photos are from 1991 and are of upgrades we were making to our home in Daleyville, Wisconsin. These are the first scans from color negatives that I have made.
These next two photos were scanned from 35mm transparencies (slides)
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
For about a day or so this week, I actually felt as if I was retired. Didn’t do much, slept late, fooled around on the computer. So that’s what retirement could be like!
By all indications, it will be a full house for the holiday period here at Heart House. We’ll see what this old house can accommodate.
Happy Trails.